Sensational '70's Tune for Tuesday, June 30th, '09

Sure, Dolly Parton was a star by 1978, but she was a country music star, at a time when country was still a niche genre. The single "Here You Come Again," written by the superstar songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, has utterly no country elements to it. Supported by a pop-oriented album of the same title featuring multiple cover photos of Parton in what can only be called a "Dig ME!" outfit and a tour of seemingly every television show that would have her, Parton broke through to the pop charts in a big way and stayed there for close to a decade. In and of itself, "Here You Come Again" isn't one of Parton's classic tunes; it's bouncy and catchy, with a very '70s plink-plink piano part that sounds like it was lifted from one of the Carpenters' peppier hits, and Parton, as always, sings the heck out of the tune, but it's finally just a little too lightweight to be an all-time great.